View full sizeDebby Wong/US PresswireRutgers point guard Nikki Speed will lead the Scarlet Knights against Marquette tonight in the second round of the Big East women's basketball tournament.

Just when it’s time to say, “Goodbye,” Rutgers senior point guard Nikki Speed and coach C. Vivian Stringer are finally having a meeting of the minds.

For four years, Speed has battled through demanding practices that sometimes left her on the verge of tears. The pair regularly had intense in-game exchanges. Stringer is hard on all of her players, but she’s particularly tough on her point guards, in part, because they’re an extension of her.

“It’s not easy playing for Coach Stringer,” Speed said. “You get yelled at for things you didn’t do. I respond differently than most to how people talk to me. It’s been rough. It’s not for everybody.”

But Speed stuck it out and is playing some of the best ball of her career as sixth-seed Rutgers (21-8, 10-6 in Big East) meets Marquette, a 54-51 winner over Cincinnati on Friday night, in a second-round game tonight in the Big East Tournament at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.

“Nikki has been playing well,” Stringer said. “I wish she had played like this her freshman year because that’s what I expected. I get on her all the time. I don’t know what happened all of a sudden.

“This year, there’s a calmness about her. Her emergence as a bona fide point guard has made me really happy. I can honestly say I wish I had her for another year because I think she’s ready now.”

Speed, a member of the Scarlet Knights’ ballyhooed 2008 recruiting class, insists she has no regrets in coming to Rutgers and is just happy to finish on a high note.

“I finally understand what Coach Stringer has been saying,” she said.

Speed, a Pasadena, Calif., native, had started 26 consecutive games when she suffered a foot injury midway through last season that sidelined her 11 games. She averaged 5.0 points and 3.2 assists her junior year.

But the quick, pass-first playmaker never quite gained the full confidence of Stringer.

This season, Speed struggled early — she was unable to run the offense smoothly and shot miserably — and eventually lost her starting job to senior Khadijah Rushdan. She insists she wasn’t pressing because of the presence of freshman point guards Syessence Davis and Shakena Richardson.

“Shakena is like my little sister,” Speed said. “I was excited to have more bodies.”

Speed has responded smartly to her benching. Since regaining her starting job, she has led Rutgers to four straight victories and the offense is clicking. Over that stretch, the Scarlet Knights are averaging 65.0 points per game after scoring just 42.6 points per game during a five-game losing streak.

During those four games, Speed has averaged 4.2 points, 3.2 assists and 3.0 rebounds in 32 minutes while playing a smooth floor games.

“It’s definitely been frustrating this season,” Speed said. “I don’t know whether it’s been me being self-confident about my foot or what. But right now, I’m just letting go. These are the last couple games.”

On Senior Night, Speed had a game to remember. She finished with eight points and six assists (both season-highs) in a 69-58 victory over Marquette in front of her parents who had flown in from California.

“It was great,” said a beaming Speed. “It felt like a throwback day. My dad talked to me before the game. My parents were there. Just to feel their presence in the stands was huge. I haven’t had that with them being so far away.

“My brother was there, too. We’re real close. He stayed with me. He didn’t want to go to the hotel. I was so relaxed with my family there.”